Heavy rain at the beginning of the week caused red river warnings along all of the navigable Thames and by Tuesday the river has risen above the club jetty walkway and it was likely that sailing would be cancelled for the Nat Phillips Trophy. However, dry weather in the latter part of the week meant the river had returned to yellow warnings by Saturday and with light winds forecast it was decided to go ahead with the Pursuit Race and first round of the Autumn Series.
Winds were about 10mph gusting to almost 20mph from the northwest. The OD; Marcus Robb setup a course with an upstream start, a middle B buoy was positioned below the large wooden post (near the bend) which was taken to starboard, a top A buoy past the bend to be taken to starboard and a bottom C buoy positioned in front of the jetty launch also taken to starboard. A paddle buoy was set as winds were particularly fickle outside the clubhouse. Four sailors took part, with three OKs participating (Andrew Boxer in OK 2196, Jerome Dreux in OK 2007 and James Long in OK 1990) and Clive Evison in his Phantom 1355.
The OKs started first with Andrew Boxer making the best start followed by Jerome Dreux and James Long. The wind was particularly changeable early in the race with Jerome and James getting stuck near the top buoy on the first lap and Andrew opened a sizeable gap. Clive had taken both on the second lap and was chasing after Andrew and took the lead early on the third lap. James also caught Andrew at the top of the course due to a good upwind leg and took Andrew near the A buoy and opened up a good gap as Andrew got stuck by a sudden drop in wind near to rounding the A buoy. James had almost opened up half a lap by the time he rounded the buoy and was closing on Clive, however he made the mistake of gybing on the bottom buoy and lost momentum and was swept down to the paddle buoy by the strong current and could not paddle or sail back to the bottom buoy despite repeated attempts. Both Andrew and Jerome rounded the bottom buoy successfully with Clive now holding a very healthy lead when the final hooter sounded, so Clive took the win ahead of Andrew and Jerome with James still stuck below the P buoy and he had to be rescued by the safety boat after the race.
The course was changed during the lunch hour with the C buoy removed, the A buoy moved further upstream and the B buoy moved upstream closer to the bend, both buoys still taken to starboard. The start was still taken in front of the OD box and the three OKs started in very light winds. It was slow going as everyone tacked back and forth close to the Berkshire bank to avoid the strong stream before they reached the bend. Jerome took an early lead ahead of James who was then passed by Andrew before the first buoy. The wind picked up significantly after the bend and the sailors could use more of the river’s width if they were lucky enough to have consistent wind strength. Jerome had opened up a good gap as they approached the top buoy for the first time with Andrew ahead of James. James hit the bottom B buoy on the first lap and he carried out his penalty dropping almost a quarter of a lap behind. However, Andrew collided with the top buoy whilst rounding it and served his penalty allowing James to catch. Jerome then got stuck in a wind pocket allowing both Andrew and James to pass. Clive was again quick to catch up the OK sailors and led by the second lap. They finished in that order.
The wind was slightly stronger for the final race of the day as the OKs took the start. Andrew opened up a good gap on the other OKs and all three held off Clive further into the race with Andrew maintaining a good gap on Clive for over a lap after Clive passed James. Eventually Clive passed Andrew by taking a direct route up the Buckinghamshire bank and gained an advantage. After Clive passed Andrew, some excellent sailing from Andrew kept the gap to Clive to a minimum for almost a lap. Jerome had a bad upwind leg on the penultimate lap and dropped almost half a lap behind James, who had almost caught Andrew but had difficulty rounding the top buoy after a drop in wind and Andrew opened half a lap, so the OKs were spread out by the finish. The race again finished with Clive ahead of Andrew, James and Jerome.
Clive Evison won the Nat Phillips Trophy after three wins with Andrew Boxer second, James Long third and Jerome Dreux third. The Handicap Autumn Series is also led by Clive and no scores from the Lightning Autumn Series yet.